For a long time it looked like it could well just be a top one, but McLaren and Ferrari have fought back well against Red Bull, so here is my assessment of the top three teams at the halfwayish point.
Ferrari (215): Fernando Alonso (145) and Felipe Massa (70)
Ferrari had a slow start to the season. Despite positive testing they couldn’t match, or even get near the Red Bull pace in the early stages of the season. In the first five races they achieved precisely one podium finish. But as demonstrated last year, Ferrari aren’t a team to give up, they chipped consistently away and are now arguably the quickest car on race pace out there. Five podiums from the next six races have certainly proved that. They’ll always fight to the end, expect them to ramp up the pressure on Red Bull during the second half with a consistent sustained attack.
Alonso has more than double the points of Massa. Now there’s a statement to make Felipe’s head drop. He’s not had an overly bad season, he’s had some good races and often makes fantastic starts, but he’s missing a few tenths to Alonso which is just leaving him in the shade, in fact he’s indoors. In my opinion he’s not had the same performance since his accident. He was more than capable of at least challenging Alonso, but despite flashes of what was once there, he can’t deliver and it’s sad to see because you can see he looks lost, his team is no longer his. He needs to deliver a good performance as rumours still circulate that the vultures are waiting.
What to say about Alonso, pretty much he’s been brilliant. He’s brought the car home with decent points even when it wasn’t performing and since Monaco hasn’t been off the podium, apart from a little scuffle with Button that put him out in Canada. No one is more determined that the Spaniard, and if he can get himself in range of Vettel then he’ll definitely want to close the trap this time. His win in Silverstone proved Ferrari’s strength in the race, as did a further two podiums in Germany and Hungary, which if conditions had been hotter as expected might have resulted in two further wins. Another team where qualifying pace needs to be improved but Belgium and Italy should definitely favour them over Red Bull. It’s still all to play for it the Italian teams eyes.
McLaren (280): Lewis Hamilton (146) and Jenson Button (134)
To be blunt McLaren looked rubbish in testing, I mean properly poor. However, to put it simply a little tinkering and reverting back to basics on their exhaust layout suddenly made them Red Bull’s main challengers for the first part of the season. Apart from a few moments where like in Turkey or Valencia, they’ve been on the pace for the most part. In fact there was a period where they really had the fastest car in the race, but failed to capitalise. There have been a number of team errors and circumstance which has resulted in McLaren not getting the results their pace warranted which has left them over a 100 points behind Red Bull. Despite this, they go to the Belgium Grand Prix having won the last two races and with Spa master Hamilton, they stand a good chance of scoring a hat-trick.
Talking of Hamilton what an up and down season he’s had. A lot has been said about Hamilton this year, some of it nonsense, some of it sense. I think Hamilton has pushed the car well beyond it’s limits on occasion, but he’s taken it beyond his too. A third consecutive season without a car to properly challenge for the championship has meant his frustration has got the better of him on occasion. Yet he’s still the best non Red Bull driver and is still the most likely man to offer Vettel a challenge. He’s the fastest out there, has had two wins this year, he’s great around Spa, it could be just the place to add a third and start to crack Vettel .
Jenson Button has also had a pretty varied season. He’s struggled with qualifying again, although there are signs he might have turned that around. His wins in Canada and Hungary were again the sign of someone who is calm under pressure when conditions are tough and his decision making skills are second to none. On his day Jenson is great and no one can touch him, but he needs everything to be perfect which Hamilton does not. Button has said he wants to finish in front of Vettel for the rest of the year, perhaps he could. But in that scenario the only problem is I’d bet Hamilton finishes in front of them both.
Red Bull (383): Sebastian Vettel (234) and Mark Webber (149)
For most of the year so far Red Bull has been supreme. Their Adrian Newey designed car has proved to be the quickest and in the first eight races they exploited it to full effect, never finishing lower than second place. Since then they’ve not won a race, that isn’t to say they lost any pace, it’s just McLaren and Ferrari have got quicker. Looked at another way, this was on the cards for a long time. Red Bull were well prepared and quick straight away. Despite alterations to the exhaust blown diffuser regulations, one of their main strengths, they’ve been on pole position at every single race, often by some margin but this has never really been properly translated in the race as they would destroy their tyres. In many races other teams were quicker but it is because of their failings and Red Bulls better organization and Vettel’s driving that they’ve managed to keep winning. Now those failings have stopped, the chase is on.
Mark Webber has not got a handle on the Pirelli tyres, he’s admitted as much, but that does not explain just how much Vettel has reigned over him this year. He hasn’t driven badly but just once this year has he finished higher than his team mate, and at this stage of the season I don’t think that’s going to change. Hopefully he’ll manage a win at some point, but to me he has to regroup for next year as this one is a lost cause. Webber may be the closest challenger on points, but when Red Bull asked him to hang back in the closing stages of the British Grand Prix you learnt all you needed to know.
Sebastian Vettel has been completely brilliant this year. He has raised his performance to another level and deserves to be talked about in the same breath as Alonso and Hamilton. There’s still a question mark about whether he can win from anywhere other than the front, but to be fair, because he qualifies at the front so much it’s a bit hard for him to battle those statistics. He has controlled races assuredly, handling pressure from the likes of Hamilton and Alonso calmly, and been devastatingly fast in qualifying. He has won six times so far this year, but hasn’t for the last three races. With Belgium and Italy traditionally being less favourable to Red Bull he may have to go a few more without a victory, but I don’t think any pressure will get to him. This won’t be a cruise and collect title, he’ll win again, and he’ll win well, he’s been that good this year.
So there is my little assessment of what has been happening so far this year. Despite the Vettel domination, the majority of races have been thrillers, and the last three in particular have shown us not to expect him to run away with it completely. There’s still a few more laps to do yet as we head to Belgium.
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